Praveen Morchhale

Praveen Morchhale (born 18 November 1968) is 65th National Film Awards of India winner as well as ICFT-UNESCO Medal winner film director, producer and screenwriter, who works in Indian cinema.

Praveen Morchhale created his first feature film Barefoot to Goa in 2015. Having started out by making making short films and directing theatre, this film turned to crowdfunding prior to its release on 10 April 2015. Co-produced by 238 people who raised a sum of INR 5 million, this film depicted the indulgent relationship between a grandparent and a grandchild.

His next feature "Walking with the Wind" (2017), bagged three prizes at the 65th National Film Awards - Best Film (Ladakhi), Best Sound Design (Sanal George) and Best Re-Recording (Justin Jose). This film was also awarded the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi medal at the 49th International Film Festival of India.

Morchhale's third film, "Widow of Silence" is about a Kashmiri woman, Aasiya, whose husband gets picked up by the security forces. After waiting for seven years she is now a 'half-widow', a woman whose husband is missing, facing a government which is unwilling to declare him dead. This Urdu language feature was premiered at the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival on 12 November 2018 after debuting at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Kim Jiseok Award.

At the 17th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, "Widow of Silence" won the Grand Jury prize for the best feature, for its depiction of "a condition that most of the world doesn't get to see".

Morcchale has been noted for his subtle, natural and simplistic style of cinema and he mostly uses non-actors in his films. He takes his inspiration from Iranian Cinema, especially directors like Abbas Kiarostami whom he considers an "epitome of simple cinema...who uses the film medium to express stories in a minimalist way...without worrying too much about commercial aspects.".